Kingdom Hearts - Blades of Three Realms

[[XIII] Roxas]

Roveth's performance was very impressive and for the most part the group gathered on the beach was still mesmerized by the spectacle of it all. The s'more makings being presented by Axel did draw some attention from the more sugar enthusiastic members of the group which naturally included Crystal and Roxas, as well as Sora who eagerly volunteered to make one for Kairi as well although with Sora roasting the marshmallows they tended to catch on fire and he'd get so distracted with the flames that he'd forget the blow them out until they had become mostly inedible. So as nice as it was for Sora to offer, Kairi knew better than to rely on him for something like that and would roast her own marshmallows to perfection because this is Kairi we're talking about and Riku isn't the only one who has to keep Sora in line. Riku wasn't especially interested in making s'mores for himself, but he did work to make one for Namine at least. And as can be expected, Riku's technique for roasting marshmallows appeared to be completely flawless. Crystal had long ago perfected her technique for roasting marshmallows for s'more making so Roxas was watching her go at it while also focusing on making sure his own marshmallow didn't catch on fire. Of course, with everyone alternating between tending to their marshmallows and watching Roveth's performance accidents were bound to happen so there were more than a few sugary casualties and not all of them were because of Sora's irresponsible roasting methods. Roxas lost several too, but that had more to do with a lack of practice than anything being actually wrong with his technique. He just didn't know the proper timing for how long to let one sit before it risked catching fire when he wasn't looking right at it. Not that he needed to worry because Crystal seemed fully capable of roasting more than was even necessary if she hadn't been restraining herself from going through the whole bag of marshmallows. Sora was understandably jealous because he seriously couldn't figure out what he was doing wrong with roasting his share of the marshmallows.

Xion did move slightly closer to Shiro, but she had also gotten in on the s'more making and was extremely focused on roasting her own marshmallow given how easily they seemed to catch fire whenever anyone wasn't paying quite enough attention to them. Once she had succeeded in making her s'more she relaxed again, continuing to watch Roveth's performance. A lot had changed since she had been restored on Radiant Garden all those months ago now. It was easy to forget that for nearly two years she hadn't existed, in the conventional sense, at all. And then everyone, especially Roxas and Axel, who had suddenly gotten their memories of her back again had been extremely happy to have Xion back in their lives. Considering what had happened with Isa, Xion coming back when she did might have even saved Axel's life considering it was only then that he, through his attachment to Roxas and Xion both, had started to connect more with Crystal, Shiro, and Roveth as well. Crystal had opened up the most since then, which was kind of to be expected when the only way she had managed to keep anything to herself in the first place had been by avoiding being around people for the most part in general. It had taken longer for Shiro and Roveth to really start to come out of their respective shells, with Shiro becoming slightly more social in general while Roveth at least attempted to be sociable when he wasn't completely absorbed in his technological dabbling and tinkering.

"You know, I think it's probably good for both of you that Roveth's trying to spread his wings to find his own place in the worlds," Xion mentioned slightly offhandedly as she became slightly distracted with some amusement when Roxas accidentally pulled back his still roasting marshmallow slightly too fast and ended up whacking himself in the nose. Sora started laughing at him so Roxas performed the most childish act of retaliation possible--he whacked Sora in the face with the still partially molten marshmallow as well so now they both had some on their faces. After that Roxas started laughing too and obviously his act of retaliation had gotten Riku and the girls laughing as well. Even Aqua couldn't help chuckling at how well everyone here seemed to be getting along in one way or another.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

of course, Roveth would've been bold and used one of the supreme dragons to scoop up Aqua and give her a nice flight, but he figured that the show would be enough as is as he hummed in thought while switching to Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon as he brought things back to the boat, before slipping off and landing in the boat once more before closing his eyes with a small smile, he could hear the feelings in his own way coming from the beaches, it was quite mesmerizing to him, of course, he could also feel Shiro's worrying emotions buried under the excitement and amazement of the show, knowing why he would at least know his light half still cared for him, it made him take a tear to his eye, before he brought his hand up to clear it away, before smiling as all the dragons and the two magicians launched their signature attacks into the sky, creating fireworks that formed various symbols in the sky, Mickey ears, crowns, the Nobody Symbol, the heartless Symbol, of course an interesting rendition of a crystal or three together among other things, so on, before the other monsters faded, leaving the three Supreme King Dragons still remaining as they roared in harmony, Roveth nodding a bit as he reached to his heart "you sure...? alrightif you want me to do it i will... a different chant?" he whispered, speaking to someone within him, before he snapped his eyes open, letting them glow a bright amber yellow and almost golden color as he spread his arms out "i'm glad everyone is enjoying the festivities and food! but now unfortunately it is time for the Final Act, one last performer wants to come to the stage for this so bare with me!" he said with a smile, spreading his arms as he motioned to the three dragons as they started glowing "i use my three Supreme King Dragons as tributes to bring forth a new partner, one a few of you have seen before in battle even!" he raised his hand up into the air as the three lit up, and launched up into the sky, before colliding with one another, and started forming a large familiar golden orb in the sky as it started floated down "Almighty protector of the Sun and Sky, i beg of thee, please heed my cry! Transform thyself from Orb of Light and bring us happiness within this night! i beseech thee, grace our humble presence! but first i shall.. call out thy name! WINGED DRAGON OF RA!" he chanted, proceeding as the golden orb started to solidify, before opening up, revealing them to be -MASSIVE- wings curling to protect the divine beast like monster with red eyes and golden body as Ra let out a screech of a cry, showing the field with it's raw divine presence. of course, once Ra had fully formed, Roveth and Ra met eye to eye, nodding before Ra raised it's head and let out another harmonious screech as a large golden fireball began forming in it's mouth "alright... Ra, i ask of thee, give us our finale for us and IGNITE YOUR GOD BLAZE CANNON!" he roared out, with Ra roaring in response, and unleashing the massive beam into the sky, which after it hit a certain height, would explode out to unleash into a fountain of golden sparkles and a clear design of the Eye of Horus in the sky looking down upon everyone for a good finale, as Ra faded as well, all the cards landing in Roveth's hands once more, where he put them away, and had the Yomi boat sail back to shore as he sat down to take his time to get back to shore and rest a bit to regain his stamina, that last one wiped the last of it out quite easily.

Shiro of course blinked, looking over to Xion when she mentioned the fact of Roveth actually finding his own place, and just smiled, nodding a bit lightly as he resumed looking out to the distance with a hum of thought ".. mmh, i agree, but i can't help but worry for Roveth, it feels like he's trying to push himself so hard for us.. that he's not letting himself sit back and enjoy things..." he said, while having just taken a candy bar himself and ate the chocolate, sure, he didn't mind smores, but he just wanted the chocolate without the mess so he went with that instead as Gilgamesh swirled his wine in his goblet a bit, before sipping it with a very pleased smile on his face "i have to admit, Shiro's 'shadow' as he loves to portray himself as definitely has a flair for prime entertainment.. i approve of the theatrics." he said cheekily, only to get another chocolate bar beaning him in the head with a bark of laughter coming from the golden king, knowing exactly who threw it, given it was Shiro in particular, with hand still slightly smoking with how fast he launched that bar to collide with Gil's face "quiet you. you know damn good and well he doesn't like titles so if you pin one on him don't be surprised if he tries to skewer you like i do." he said, giving Gilgamesh the one-eyed death stare, only for Gilgamesh to snort, and resume sipping his wine regardless.

Axel of course just smiled, seeing how everyone was close indeed, but it was getting pretty late, so it was time to wind things down so they can get some rest for in the morning, between heading off to this Nerima place for most of them, and of course Roveth's departure with Sora and Aqua to Castle Oblivion... yeah, that's still a place even Axel himself doesn't really want to return to.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Naturally, everyone would have to agree that Roveth had truly outdone himself with that epic finale. But it was getting rather late and most of those gathered on the island would be starting a new journey in the morning so soon enough it was time to douse the fire so everyone could settle in to get some sleep. Crystal had brought out the tent for anyone who might want it, but it was primarily being used for privacy as a changing area for those who were inclined to put on their pajamas for the night. Otherwise it was looking like they all planned on sleeping beneath the stars on whatever blankets Sora and Riku had brought back with them from the main island along with the stash of camping supplies Crystal had on hand as usual. And, just given the number of people present, there ended up being two primary sleeping areas split between the girls and the guys in this instance.

Once they were all up again the next day the camping supplies would get put away fairly quickly as everyone got ready for seeing Roveth, Sora, and Aqua off as they would be departing for Castle Oblivion. While it was already planned out that the other group consisting of Crystal, Shiro, Roxas, Xion, Gilgamesh, and possibly Axel would be heading for Nerima, Riku was going to be escorting Kairi to Radiant Garden along with Namine, but the three of them were on a much more relaxed schedule so that wouldn't be until a bit later in the day. Kairi was making sure Sora still had her good luck charm and hugging him goodbye while Riku looked on with an appreciative smile at his two best friends before he thought of something else and turned with an entirely conniving looking smirk toward Roxas and Crystal.

"You know, come to think of it, you two might want to think about sharing a Paopu before you leave," Riku leered at the pair with growing amusement as Roxas had been on the island long enough prior to his transition back to Twilight Two to have heard the story about that star-shaped fruit and very quickly started to blush because he knew exactly what Riku meant by that.

"A what now?" Crystal naturally hadn't heard of the particular fruit that Riku was talking about.

"Well, you see, one of the trees here on the island grows this star-shaped fruit and they say if two people share one that they will be destined to always remain a part of each other's lives no matter what happens," Kairi explained once she had finished with hugging Sora.

"Anyway, you really don't have to listen to Riku if you don't want to," Sora mentioned with his arms propped behind is head while giving a lazy smile. "It's not like you guys even really need it to know that you're always going to be together, right?"

"Although it might be pretty romantic if you did," Namine chimed in with a hint of amusement. It was at that point that Crystal also started blushing rather profusely.

"Of course this island would have a fruit like that," Crystal brought a palm to her forehead.

"Anyway, isn't that story just supposed to be some kind of superstition?" Roxas wondered making attempt to brush off the subject.

"But we don't know that for sure and considering this world is literally called the Destiny Islands and I've already had dealings with Cosmos, the Goddess of Light, I think I'm pretty much up to my ears in superstitions being rooted in reality," Crystal pointed out with an exasperated sigh that would have rivaled Leon.

"Well, you do have a point," even Aqua was getting in on the conversation. "I can't say for sure whether those stories are true, but it's well known enough that I heard about it on my own world and I think the sentiment of having that kind of a connection with someone is pretty special."

And, of course, when she said that she held out her Wayfinder so that they all could see. This made Crystal raise an eyebrow because she immediately recognized the shape from Kairi's good luck charm as well as the keychain on the Oathkeeper Keyblade and also the fact that it had been recreated in Komodo scales for her own Light's Shadow Keyblade not long ago. And that was certainly very interesting.

"Anyway, we should probably get going," Sora recommended. "We shouldn't keep Ventus waiting any longer than we have to," he added while looking to Aqua and Roveth in particular.

"Right," Aqua easily agreed and pocketed her Wayfinder. "I'll try opening a path for us," she continued as she materialized the Master's Defender Keyblade into her hand and focused on opening up a pathway that would take the three of them to Castle Oblivion.

"Be careful!" Kairi reminded Sora as he got ready to leave with the other two.

"Don't make me have to come in there after you again," Riku added slightly sarcastically although he definitely meant what he said. If anything did go wrong he'd be going into that castle after Sora without a second thought.

Crystal decided to ignore her embarrassment over what had been said about the Paopu fruit for now to focus on seeing Roveth off for the moment. "I know you like showing off, but try not to overdo it in there," Crystal would say with a knowing look.

"Stay safe," Xion added.

"And don't worry about Shiro," Roxas would mention. "We'll be taking good care of him."

Sora grinned, taking one last jab at Roxas, although in this case he was addressing Crystal. "And I know you'll take good care of Roxas for me."

Considering Crystal had just barely managed to reign in her blushing her face very immediately went bright red again causing both Sora and Riku to laugh about it in amusement while Roxas glared at them both.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth had hummed lightly, having woken up probably first despite the fact of how tired he was the night before, he was full of energy and stamina once more, of course when Riku started his teasing he'd just sigh, shaking his head a bit lightly grumbling a bit before reaching over and poking Riku's forehead with his index finger "oi oi.. no need to antagonize the love birds Riku... romantic it might be, it'd be best to let them take their time now that they know each other's feelings." he said, giving off an amused smile, while Roveth then turned to Shiro, which made the both of them look entirely serious for a few moments, like a fight would easily break out, before they both smiled, and gave each other a fist bump with Roveth responding "stay safe, Aibou. and keep on training and growing stronger." he would say, before turning and waited for the possible path towards Castle oblivion to open as he summoned up a pair of sunglasses using his shadow realm manipulation and slipped them on all cool like.

Shiro just snorted after the cool actions of Roveth and just shook his head "Yare yare daze... stay safe yourself, mou hitori no boku... and good luck to the three of you." he would say, mentioning Aqua and Sora as well, before turning away from the three about to leave for Destiny Island, as he let his eyes warm up from their serious gaze "now then... Riku's comments aside, we should be getting on our way as well, no need to dawdle too long, unless... you want to go find that Paopu fruit, Crystal, Roxas?" he added Cheekily while Gilgamesh chuckled a bit and shook his head lightly, before looking to the former Assassin of the Organization XIII "so, are you coming with us, Dancing Flame, or are you off again for more recon?" he decided to ask, given he had been given the heads up about Axel's 'job' during the afternoon so he knew about things.

Axel shook his head lightly as he cracked his neck a bit "nope, Wolfwood's already gone into deep cover again, so i won't be able to get more info out for us by doing another trip, so i'll be joining you guys in going to Nerima." he explained, while Axel did glance to Xion with a sly and subtle smile "maybe we should stick around a bit more to let the lovebirds find a Paopu Fruit.. maybe you could share one with Shiro?" Shiro had blinked, having not heard much of the conversation between Riku and the others about the Paopu fruit thing, causing him to raise an eyebrow a bit lightly.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Well, see ya!" Sora would leave with Aqua and Roveth through the pathway that was revealed to transport them to the entrance of Castle Oblivion leaving the rest of the group back on the Destiny Islands as the path closed itself behind them.

Riku didn't really seem to mind that last minute being berated by Roveth for his teasing of Roxas and Crystal before the three departed for Castle Oblivion and kind of just idly listened as the others discussed their plans for transitioning to that Nerima world they had been talking about. Xion, meanwhile, squeaked audibly when Axel suggested that she could share a Paopu fruit with Shiro. His intentions might not have been obvious to Xion the night before during Roveth's performance while they were all sitting by the bonfire, but now Xion had been made well aware of what Axel was playing at and the look on her face was absolutely priceless. She really wasn't sure how she should feel about that and sort of settled on a cross between very embarrassed and comically angry.

"Axel!" Xion flailed at him. "Why would you even suggest that?!"

Roxas and Crystal, meanwhile, seemed to be seriously considering what the others were suggesting about the Paopu fruit.

"I know this all sounds ridiculous and Roveth is right that we should just take our time with things now that we know how we feel about each other, but if you're wanting to try it I can't say that I'd mind," Roxas looked a bit sheepish as he blushed even more than he had been before.

"There's probably no harm in trying it," Crystal admitted with her own blushing still in full effect. "I mean, I'm not against it. Even so, it wouldn't be a bad idea to take a little more time to think about it."

"Well, if you can spare a few more minutes, I can go check the tree to see if they're even ripe right now," Riku pointed out. "That should give you more than enough time to think about it."

"Should I even be asking why Riku seems to know so much about this seemingly magical fruit?" Crystal wondered aloud.

"Probably because he was originally plotting to convince Sora to share one with me," Kairi mentioned. "Although I'm not sure Sora ever really figured that out."

"It's fine if it's just for fun, right?" Namine chimed in.

"I guess so," Roxas rubbed the back of his head still looking pretty embarrassed about it. "It sounds like Riku must really believe that story or at the very least he seems like he wants for it to be true."

*~Castle Oblivion~*

Sora along with Aqua and Roveth would arrive outside the rather ominous looming structure of Castle Oblivion surrounded on all sides by seemingly endless grass fields and suspicious crossroads. Sora did recognize the castle from his previous visit, although he legitimately couldn't recall anything of what had happened once he had gone inside. This was to be expected as Namine had wiped all memory of those experiences from his mind when she had reconstructed his memory during his nearly year-long sleep. To be honest, Sora did feel a bit wary about going inside the castle this time around.

Aqua was wary too, but for a different reason. "The protective measures are still in place, but the darkness definitely has a hold over the castle," she explained somewhat vaguely. "I suppose that means before we can wake up Ven we need to eliminate the Heartless that have accumulated inside since I've been away."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Sora nodded as he summoned forth the Kingdom Key. "Heartless I know how to handle."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro would just stare deadpan at Axel while shrugging, deciding it wasn't worth trying to figure out what's gotten Xion so worked up, besides, he doubted an innocent smile on Axel was anything but innocent at least, so he just moved to at least look amused at Roxas and Crystal's flustered faces, though he could tease some too, he had other thoughts on his mind, especially when Sanji and Zoro both appeared out of their memorial tablets and took on their humanoid form to talk with Shiro about the soon to come exercises and all.

Axel would just raise his hands in surrender at the flailing Xion with that smile and all "whoa whoa whoa calm down Xion, i meant as friends! i had no intention of meaning the more romantic way for you two!" he would say, of course, he would grin slyly though and decided to ask "unless you have something to tell us, or more importantly Shiro?" of course, afforementioned Shiro proceeded to tilt his head over curiously to see what was going on and why his name was used consistently at the moment. of course, Gilgamesh was currently trying to get some coffee in his blood at least.


Roveth of course did sense the darkness due to his own acute senses, moving forward with a couple of steps as he brought one hand up, and swung it down revealing Lockdown, with the other hand doing the same to summon Tenebrex as well as he spun them around and clashed them into a ready stance "wait a bit Sora, let -me- handle the majority of heartless. you keep your stamina and energy topped off so you'll be able to wake Ventus up okay?" he said calmly enough with a smile to look back at the two, ,but he also had a hand slipping down to take out a couple of cards into hand to keep them at the ready just in case.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth would raise an eyebrow and look back at Sora as if really asking 'did you just say that? you must not even feel how much darkness is rampant here.' before turning back towards the entrance of the castle "suit yourself, i was just planning ahead of time." he'd say, before nodding to Aqua's explanation having heard it despite the fact he was wondering just how badly his friends must have screwed the pooch to get him to think like that, before whispering to himself 'i really need to have a long talk with Donald and Goofy after this to get to the root of the issue...' he would continued forwards inside once Aqua opened the door, narrowing his eyes lightly as he started to settle down into his serious mode for once, this wasn't a time for theatrics, picking, or fun in general, this was a time for action, and Sora seemed to be underestimating not only Roveth himself, but also the darkness within the castle that he could feel, with a click of his teeth he'd stop suppressing his own dark aura, and calmly let his eyes go inverted in the scelera, but still retain his golden amber irises.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"That isn't what you meant Axel and we both know it!" Xion was clearly still exasperated about his suggestion about sharing the Paopu fruit with Shiro. And there was nothing to tell Shiro either because Xion honestly didn't know if what she felt toward him was anything other than friendship right now regardless. It was different from how she felt about Roxas and Axel, because with them she knew without a doubt that they were both her best friends and she loves them dearly, probably because she still didn't really know Shiro that well. Sure, Xion worried about him, but that's because it was only natural to worry about your friends. That's it. And Axel was reading way too much into it.

Roxas, Crystal, Kairi, and even Namine were of course watching with some amusement as Xion seemed to become increasingly flustered the more she tried to argue with Axel. To put it simply, she was pretty adorable right now.

Riku returned from his examination of the tree that produced the Paopu fruit with a look of complete and utter disappointment on his face. "Sorry for the hold up, but it looks like the fruit isn't actually ripe yet," he apologized and seemed to be almost genuinely sad about it.

"Ah well, maybe next time," Crystal waved him off with a slight shrug.

"Yeah, you know we'll have to come back here sometime anyway," Roxas nodded in agreement.

"Anyway, we should probably get going," Crystal decided after that. "Nerima is waiting and we've got some training to attend to." She held out her hand to materialize World's Rift so she could open up a path.

"Take care you guys and be sure to visit us again soon!" Kairi waved as they all started to leave. Of course, the next time they would be seeing her would be on Radiant Garden since the next stage of her Keyblade training would be taking place at Merlin's, but that's not what's important.

*~Nerima~*

There was an audible *splash* as soon as they all arrived in the backyard of the Tendo Dojo with Crystal having landed unceremoniously in the pond while everyone else would have been deposited on their feet on the nearby lawn as the eldest of the Tendo sisters would glance out the window with a vague declaration of "Oh my, we have guests!" before she ran off to fetch a towel for the poor soul who had suffered the misfortune of landing in the pond to become soaking wet.

"Hey, it's Tree Faller-Outer!" Ranma himself happened to be in the yard practicing on one of the training dummies that populated the vicinity.

"Don't make me splash you Ranma!" Crystal called out to him from the pond in mock annoyance. Honestly, as stupid a nickname as that was, it was far less embarrassing now considering the much more dreaded title Roveth had given her in recent memory.

"Tree Faller-Outer?" Xion was genuinely puzzled by the odd nickname that seemed to be directed at Crystal. Roxas actually had a reasonable guess of where the nickname had come from considering one of the first times he had come across Crystal in Twilight Town she had nearly fallen on him from one of the trees in those woods by the mansion which meant it was likely that something similar had happened during Crystal's previous visits to this world as well. Regardless of that, he was helping to pull Crystal from the pond so she could get back on her feet with the rest of them.

"Say, it's been a while hasn't it?" Ranma seemed to realize he hadn't actually seen Crystal or Shiro for quite some time, not that that was really all that unusual considering how many of the regulars came and went on a recurring basis. He also finally seemed to notice the others who were there with them as he gave a warm and welcoming smile. "So, are they all friends of yours?"

By that point Kasumi had reappeared with a towel for Crystal and Crystal started to dry herself off as she switched into introduction mode. "Shiro you know from before," Crystal gave a nod of confirmation. "As for everyone else, this is Roxas, Xion, Axel, and Gilgamesh."

The fact that Roxas had been so quick to assist Crystal out of the pond certainly hadn't been lost on Ranma who grinned at him in amusement. "So, I guess this means you finally found yourself a proper boyfriend. No offense Shiro, but I never believed the two of you were a couple. It always struck me as a bit too weird the way you two act like you could be brother and sister or something."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth of course had been taking out the large bodies, so on, having noticed that his strength wasn't all there in his attacks as normally he'd rip right through heartless with little issue, now they took a good few hits to defeat, which he naturally attributed it to the castle itself, namely the defenses, if his logical mind were thinking on it, however when he turned to see Sora getting juggled about and then the surprise and gratefulness of being healed.. that made Roveth actually start getting angry, not at sora or Aqua, but at a much different couple of people ~did donald and Goofy -never- heal Sora when he got injured!?! that's the only explanation i could think of as too why Sora would react like that! and if that's the case... were they just leaving him to fend for himself while fighting themselves and not even considering teamwork?~ of course, the more his thought processes started gathering data and compiling them to logical conclusions and more questions popping up, the more angrier he got, until one large swing from a Large Body got stopped by Roveth's single arm, his anger fueling his strength right now as he dismissed Tenebrex in hand and gripped onto the Large Body, and with adrenaline and rage boosted strength he'd literally whirl around and pull the Large Body along with him, before flinging full force the large heartless right at the Defender and Wyvern that harrassed Sora with extreme prejudice to slam them into the nearby wall (maybe cratering said wall a moment) before Roveth brought up Lockdown as it began glowing with purplish black energy flowing from it as he gathered more and more darkness up, but there was a molten gold core as something started resonating with him and filtering energy into his attack as he narrowed his eyes "Shadow Rend." he called out with deadly coldness, before firing the orb much into a beam form right for all three heartless without hesitation.

Shiro had chuckled a bit seeing the looks of confusion from other's faces about Crystal's nickname, though he did see Axel chuckle in amusement given the fact that Crystal was cute more than menacing when threatening Ranma while drenched like that "yes well you gender swapping battle junkie it has been a while." he said in his own amused cheeky/snarky way, before looking towards Roxas and Crystal, before back to Ranma "none taken Ranma, you have -no- idea how frustrating it was to have people instantly think Crystal and myself were an item anywhere we went." he said while sighing a bit dramatically, but he did grin "so what about you? still neck deep with fiance's you have no way of handling?" he quipped in return, while gilgamesh raised an eyebrow at Shiro's words, moreso the nickname he gave Ranma but said nothing, he was more amused at the black haired boy's nickname for Crystal at the moment. "a childish nickname, but i take it she must've had a trifling time with the laws of Gravity while she was oh so conveniently in a tree?" he'd comment, with Shiro nodding a bit lightly "eh, Crystal did have a lot of issues with gravity back then, i admit, though mine was worse since usually wherever we landed if we didn't land on our feet, i'd almost always end up in the bottom of a dogpile, with at least one or two things happening to add pain to said bottom individual, myself." he finished up with a small grimace at the end, given he did remember quite a few times of a dogpile happening and something extremely heavy landing on himself.

Axel of course snickered mentally as he continued holding his hands up in surrender over the Paopu fruit thing, but it turned out to be moot as Riku mentioned they weren't ripe, so there went that avenue to nudge the two closer for now, he'd leave off at that, but he did smirk once they got to Nerima and Shiro decided to go into snark mode on the apparent martial artist though he did chuckle at Crystal's nickname, and the grimace from her, knowing full well why she'd grimace a bit when thinking of nicknames: Roveth. "well this is turning to already be an interesting world." he said with a bit of amusement and all.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Oh yeah, that happened to us when we were transported to the Command Center on Angel Grove," Xion recalled when Shiro mentioned his misfortune with being on the bottom whenever he was subjected to any sort of dogpile. Shiro had most certainly been buried at the bottom with the rest of them arranged haphazardly on top of him.

"Well, it also used to happen all the time whenever Crystal would be up in that tree over by the koi pond," Ranma mentioned with some amusement. "That's why Kasumi always keeps a towel ready."

"Just like she always keeps the kettle on for you," Crystal quipped back even though she did look slightly embarrassed by Ranma's assessment of her old tree-perching habits.

"What did Shiro mean by neck deep in fiance's?" Roxas wondered at the other part of what Shiro had mentioned about Ranma.

"Um... well, that's a little bit complicated," Ranma rubbed the base of his neck while looking both perplexed and embarrassed.

"Basically, his father treats him like a form of currency and attempts to settle his debts by agreeing to have Ranma marry people's daughters," Crystal had the foresight to explain. "But we both know the one you really care about is Akane, isn't that right?"

"Why the heck would I care about that uncute tomboy?!" Ranma did his damnedest to deny it.

"Yep, that's definitely the Ranma I remember," Crystal grinned. "But you were the one who started it trying to tease me about my boyfriend so now we're even."

Ranma seemed, if anything, even more dumbfounded by that statement. After all he had mainly just been joking when he suggested that. "Wait, you mean I was actually right about that?"

"It's true and unlike you we've sort of given up on trying to hide it," Crystal noted while nodding to Roxas.

"Well how about that?" Ranma gave a genuine sort of laugh. "And here I thought you didn't have it in you to be dating anyone."

"I used to think that too, but I guess you could say being with Roxas kind of changed my mind about that sort of thing," Crystal admitted which caused Roxas to blush rather sheepishly.

"Although we are still trying to figure that out for the most part," Roxas added somewhat awkwardly. "We're still kind of new to all this."

"But they really care about each other so they're doing their best to make it work," Xion chimed in.

"But that's not the reason we came here," Crystal reminded everyone. "We came here to train."


And so the next few weeks would be spent on various methods of training, although primarily focusing on either the Amaguriken for speed or the Bakusai Tenketsu for defense purposes. The group managed to find suitable accommodations at the Tendo Dojo, but for the more rigorous attempts at training they were using the vacant lot down the street so they would inflict any unnecessary property damage to anywhere that might post a complaint about it. Other than those more advanced exercises Crystal would also be practicing katas at the dojo with Akane while also teaching a few of the more basic ones to Roxas and Xion to pass the time while Shiro would most likely be undergoing his own more intensive training regimen. This left Axel and Gilgamesh essentially free to do whatever they want.

Of course, when they weren't busy with training, Crystal had introduced those who might be interested to stuffing their faces at Ucchan's Okonomiyaki as an excuse to hangout and gossip with Ukyo about the latest goings on in Nerima. All in all, it was proving to be an excellent way to pass the time while they waited for Roveth to return from Castle Oblivion along with Sora and Aqua whenever they finally manage to find and awaken Ventus.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro of course would be trainingo n his own for a good part of the first few weeks, well, outside of times with Gilgamesh who was still working him on utilizing the Gate's contents, switching fluidly from it, using it to fire weapons at his enemies, so on, Zoro and Sanji of course, had Shiro go out and buy -very- heravy weights (almost DBZ kind of weights) for his legs, and of course curling weights that'd look besto n professional body builders than his more athletic build, and Kenshin even told Shiro to stack on iron bars wrapped on his waist and chest from Gilgamesh's gate, before he was forced to actually go through his normally -very- grueling training regiment normally all the while being schooled on various parts of Sanji's and Zoro's fighting styles, of course, when he heard one particular part about jaw strength, he'd have to go back and then buy another weight similar to the curling weights, but wide enough for it to fit in his jaw comfortably, and then work on that, using both his Katas and other various things, all in all during the training it would probably be noted that if anyone saw his training they'd either call him insane, try to mimic him, or wonder how the hell he is not breaking his body under the weight and stunting his growth. this also attributed to the fact he did various laps and dashes around Nerima to build leg strength efficiently for Sanji's requirements, as well as Kenshin's.

Axel of course did train as well, utilizing more his speed of comboing his chakrams from in the organization and his keyblade, creating a few new moves with this, as well as getting some training in speed and defense as well. granted he was also the one who helped Shiro get to his room when he literally couldn't anymore, so that was a thing, but it also allowed Kenshin to teach Roxas during the downtimes that Shiro over-extended himself quite a bit and all.

Roveth meanwhile took a deep breath, before flicking out a card into play, and locking a ring of what looked to be grenades to another defender heartless, before snapping his fingers, and said grenades went off, destroynig the heartless while continuing to fight with his twin keyblades, still not exactly a happy camper, but he did glance over to the non Keyblade Master a moment "thanks.. you're not half bad yourself, but.. i do have to ask.. does Donald and Goofy even know the concept of 'teamwork'? because from my standpoint of watching your fighting style... you fight with a similar mindset to Shiro.. one who lives life on a razor thin edge... and for Shiro it's kinda doable due to certain things about him. for you... it's as though you don't expect help from your teammates." he said, turning and grabbing a Samurai heartless that was sneaking up on him and judo throwing it to crash into a few Soldier heartless harassing Sora and sending them sailing into one of Aqua's magical blasts of doom "and if it's true.. well.. let's just say someone's going to need to stay in the same room with me and those two, because otherwise Mickey will have to find a new Court Wizard and Knight Captain." he said calmly enough, and yet there was such an edge to it that spoke volumes, it didn't show in his aura, for once he wasn't leaking his miasmic killing intent, but one could easily tell how serious he was, even as he summoned Black Luster Solder with a quick ritual summoning to help in taking down the larger heartless like the large bodies and fat bandits.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Naturally, when Shiro was out of commission after over-extending himself and needing to rest up, Kenshin would find Roxas to be an incredibly attentive student in his own right. There was certainly no question that Shiro would have been able to put the self-appointed Blue Thunder of Furinkan High in his place, but Roxas probably stood just as much chance of putting Kuno down as Shiro did despite having less formal training in that regard. Of course, unless Ranma, Akane, or his beloved Pig-Tailed Girl who is also Ranma were involved, Kuno was unlikely to pose a problem for the group so there wasn't any reason for either Shiro or Roxas to have to fight him.

One person who did become quite taken with Roxas though, and really with the group as a whole, was the proprietor of Ucchan's Okonomiyaki, Ukyo Kuonji herself. She and Crystal had already been on fairly good terms during Crystal's previous visits to Nerima, but the fact that Crystal was with Roxas and therefore no longer single and having zero chance of being a rival for Ranma's affections seriously seemed to thrill her. She had even given them a couple's discount that she had made up on the spot as a show of just how exciting the news was to her. It made Roxas wonder how often this sort of thing happened for Ukyo to get so excited about it.

Of course, it wouldn't be Nerima without something random happening to upset the otherwise calm atmosphere the group had enjoyed since arriving and that random something came in the form of a certain purple-haired Amazon riding a bicycle along fences and telephone lines through town to deliver ramen to a waiting customer. Naturally, while Shiro was making his own rounds through town for his training on that particular day he would be greeted by said bicycle landing on top of him without any apology at all from the girl riding it.